“Ava?”
“Just a sec.” I’ll miss you, sweet creamer. She sighed. “Okay, I’m back. So, if you won’t tell me about my messages, tell me what you did last night.”
“No. I won’t.”
The sudden edge of menace in his voice increased her curiosity. “Tell me.”
“No. I’ll tell you what I plan to do for the rest of the day, though.” The menace faded, gentling to … desire? “I’ll be sleeping and thinking about you. What about you?”
Thinking of her. She almost melted. Almost. Sadly, it was lesson time. And today’s moral? Keep secrets and suffer. “Better question: Who will I be doing today? But the answer’s the same. You’ll never know,” she said, and severed the connection. Let him stew on that.
She drained her coffee, showered, and dressed in the standard AIR attire. White button-up top, black slacks, and faux leather boots. She anchored her hair in a lumpy ponytail. With her curls, no style would ever be smooth.
Noelle picked her up fifteen minutes late. As usual. “We look ridiculous, wearing the same outfit like this,” was the first thing her friend said as Ava slid into the passenger side of the vehicle.
“Ridiculous, but cute.”
“True.”
The sun was already too bright and too warm, the streets crowded with humans and aliens driving to work. Most were harried, almost spastic, while a few were calm, concentrating. Ava hoped she appeared calm, even though she felt harried. Fact was, she couldn’t stand being late for anything.
No matter how late they were, though, Noelle never looked harried. Today, she was as beautiful and elegant as always, even in that white button-up. And, to be honest, they should have looked like they were wearing matching outfits, but they didn’t. Noelle’s shirt was clearly made of expensive cotton—real cotton—and appeared so soft Ava was tempted to strip and rub all over it.
“Oh, and to apologize for my tardiness, I brought you a butterscotch latte.” Noelle held out a plastic mug.
Salvation. Even though she’d already had her morning coffee, she drank greedily.
As the car meandered to AIR headquarters, Noelle said, “McKell go back to your place last night? I know he left again because I called him. Repeatedly.”
“I know, and thank you for that. But nope,” she grumbled. “He didn’t return.”
“Is he playing hard-to-get?”
“Nah. He’s playing Irritate Ava.” Why hadn’t he told her what he’d done after leaving her apartment? Had he slept with some random female, turned on as he’d been, and didn’t want her to know because he suspected Ava would never allow him to drink from her again? Well, she didn’t care who he slept with. She’d told him no. Had left him primed. But damn it to hell. He’d promised not to see anyone else. Hadn’t he?
Only thing she truly remembered about last night was the fact that he’d kissed her and left her.
“Irritate Ava is my favorite game,” Noelle said. “You’re so cute when you’re mad.”
If he had slept with someone else, she’d slap him on the back in a job well done. Just like she’d do for any male friend she had. Not that she had any male friends. Not that she wanted any male friends. Men were stupid, stupid, stupid, and controlled by their stupid dicks, and that bastard McKell was going to be stabbed in the back if he’d slept with someone else. Ava would rip him into ribbons and tie those ribbons on every bedpost she could find. A symbolic gesture McKell wouldn’t understand because he was stupid!
“Uh, Ava?”
“What?” she shouted.
“I didn’t mean it. You are so not cute when you’re mad. Your cheeks are bright red, you’re panting and sweating and ripping my brand-new, pristine interior apart.”
“What?” The haze of red faded from her gaze—until that moment, she hadn’t even realized the red had appeared—and she looked around. She was still inside Noelle’s car, her nails were scraping over the leather seat, and she was gritting her teeth so forcefully, her jaw ached. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”
“No worries. Swear.”
One by one she picked her nails out of the seat.
A few minutes later, they reached AIR’s main gate, a simple iron bar that stretched from one guard post to another. A few yards beyond, the landscape was flat and bare, boasting no trees or flowers that would allow anyone to hide. There, in the center, sat AIR.
On the outside, the building appeared to be nothing more than a two-story warehouse comprised of metal and dark red brick. In actuality, three other stories were hidden underground. Three that she knew of; there could have been more. There were cameras and weapons everywhere, camouflaged between the bricks.
Security was taken seriously here. Protestors—alien advocates—had once raided the old building, allowing a dangerous prisoner to escape.
After two ID scans, she and Noelle were allowed to park in the underground lot. Took another ID scan to be allowed to walk out of the lot and into the building, and then several fingerprint scans, even a retinal scan, and three badge verifications to hit the elevator.
“I wonder what’s on today’s agenda,” Noelle muttered as they strode down the long, plain hallway toward Mia’s office.
“Don’t know.” No matter what, Ava wouldn’t allow herself to think about McKell for the rest of the day. He would consume her, and that was dangerous.
They stopped in front of Mia’s door, and a grinning Noelle pressed the speaker button. “Noelle Tramain and Ava Sans reporting for duty, sir.”
“Funny,” Mia’s raspy voice said from the speaker. There was a pause, then a click, then the door slid open.
Mia sat behind her desk, paperwork strewn around her. Her lips were compressed into a mulish line, and bruises formed half moons under her eyes. Most likely, her night had been as sleepless as Ava’s.
Dallas occupied a chair across from the desk, his expression as grim and tense as Mia’s. Unlike Mia, however, he radiated guilt. Why?
Ava and a now somber Noelle stepped inside, and the door closed behind them automatically. Ava suddenly felt … caged.
“We found Johnny,” Mia said, jumping headfirst into business. “He’s infected.”
Ava’s jaw dropped as a denial surged up her throat. “With the Schön disease?”
“What else?” Dallas asked grimly. His gaze skimmed over Noelle, lingering a bit longer than necessary, before skidding away. For some reason, his guilt seemed to intensify.